Assessment of Biology Majors’ Versus Nonmajors’ Views on Evolution, Creationism, and Intelligent Design

The controversy around evolution, creationism, and intelligent design resides in a historical struggle between scientific knowledge and popular belief. Four hundred seventy-six students (biology majors n=237, nonmajors n=239) at a secular liberal arts private university in Northeastern United States responded to a five-question survey to assess their views about: (1) evolution, creationism, and intelligent design in the science class; (2) students’ attitudes toward evolution; (3) students’ position about the teaching of human evolution; (4) evolution in science exams; and (5) students’ willingness to discuss evolution openly. There were 60.6% of biology majors and 42% of nonmajors supported the exclusive teaching of evolution in the science class, while 45.3% of nonmajors and 32% of majors were willing to learn equally about evolution, creationism, and intelligent design (question 1); 70.5% of biology majors and 55.6% of nonmajors valued the factual explanations evolution provides about the origin of life and its place in the universe (question 2); 78% of the combined responders (majors plus nonmajors) preferred science courses where evolution is discussed comprehensively and humans are part of it (question 3); 69% of the combined responders (majors plus nonmajors) had no problem answering questions concerning evolution in science exams (question 4); 48.1% of biology majors and 26.8% of nonmajors accepted evolution and expressed it openly, but 18.2% of the former and 14.2% of the latter accepted evolution privately; 46% of nonmajors and 29.1% of biology majors were reluctant to comment on this topic (question 5). Combined open plus private acceptance of evolution within biology majors increased with seniority, from freshman (60.7%) to seniors (81%), presumably due to gradual exposure to upper-division biology courses with evolutionary content. College curricular/pedagogical reform should fortify evolution literacy at all education levels, particularly among nonbiologists

Adolescent Loneliness, Self-Disclosure, and Private Self-Consciousness: A Longitudinal Investigation

Examined the causal relations that exist among loneliness, self-disclosure, and private self-consciousness, building on an earlier study by S. L. Franzoi and M. H. Davis (see record 1985-19892-001). Using structural equation techniques and a longitudinal design, a theoretical model that links these variables was tested with 332 high school students. Results indicate a good fit between the theoretical model and the observed relations. Evidence concerning 2 alternative interpretations of the original Franzoi and Davis study is provided. First, the original hypothesis that private self-consciousness leads to greater self-disclosure to peers is supported, but no support for the alternative view that such disclosure in turn increases private self-consciousness is provided. Second, the original hypothesis that greater self-disclosure reduces loneliness and the alternative view that greater loneliness reduces self-disclosure receive some support from the data. The difficulty in obtaining significant longitudinal paths (from Year 1 to Year 2) suggests that the time lags in the variables\u27 effects on one another are relatively short

Involved, Invisible, Ignored: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Parents and Their Children in Our Nation's K-12 Schools

Current estimates suggest there are upwards of 7 million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents with dependent children in the United States, and it is likely that these numbers have been increasing over recent years. Yet little is known about the life experiences of this population of families in general and even less is know about the experiences of these families when interacting with their children's schools.This national study conducted by GLSEN in partnership with the Family Equality Council and COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere), examines and highlights the school experiences of LGBT-headed families using results from surveys of LGBT parents of children in K-12 schools and of secondary students who have LGBT parents.The study examines the family-school relationship, including family-school communication, parental involvement in school activities, parent-child discussions about school, parental role in educating school staff about LGBT families and the quality of treatment by school staff and by other members of the school community

Audit exemption and the demand for voluntary audit: A comparative study of the UK and Denmark

This is the accepted version of the following article: Collis, J. (2010), Audit Exemption and the Demand for Voluntary Audit: A Comparative Study of the UK and Denmark. International Journal of Auditing, 14: 211–231, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1099-1123.2010.00415.x/abstract.This study investigates the sufficiency of turnover as a surrogate for demand for voluntary audit and compares the determinants in the UK and Denmark. Empirical data for the study were drawn from government surveys of the directors of small private companies in both countries, which were based on the same research instrument, Bivariate tests support the hypothesised effects of turnover and a range of firm-specific factors suggested by economic rationality and agency theory. The main contribution of the study is the finding that turnover alone is not a sufficient surrogate for the costs and benefits of audit. The main predictors are turnover and a slightly different combination of management and agency factors in each country. The study provides a model that can be tested in other jurisdictions and its findings should be of interest to the accountancy profession and national regulators planning to introduce or revise audit exemption for small companies

New England Faculty and College Students Differ in Their Views about Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Religiosity

Public acceptance of evolution in Northeastern U.S. is the highest nationwide, only 59%. Here, we compare perspectives about evolution, creationism, intelligent design (ID), and religiosity between highly educated New England faculty (n = 244; 90% Ph.D. holders in 40 disciplines at 35 colleges/universities) and college students from public secular (n = 161), private secular (n = 298), and religious (n = 185) institutions: 94/3% of the faculty vs. 64/14% of the students admitted to accepting evolution openly and/or privately, and 82/18% of the faculty vs. 58/42% of the students thought that evolution is definitely true or probably true, respectively. Only 3% of the faculty vs. 23% of the students thought that evolution and creationism are in harmony. Although 92% of faculty and students thought that evolution relies on common ancestry, one in every four faculty and one in every three students did not know that humans are apes; 15% of the faculty vs. 34% of the students believed, incorrectly, that the origin of the human mind cannot be explained by evolution, and 30% of the faculty vs. 72% of the students was Lamarckian (believed in inheritance of acquired traits). Notably, 91% of the faculty was very concerned (64%) or somehow concerned (27%) about the controversy evolution vs creationism vs ID and its implications for science education: 96% of the faculty vs. 72% of the students supported the exclusive teaching of evolution while 4% of the faculty vs. 28% of the students favored equal time to evolution, creationism and ID; 92% of the faculty vs. 52% of the students perceived ID as not scientific and proposed to counter evolution or as doctrine consistent with creationism. Although ≈30% of both faculty and students considered religion to be very important in their lives, and ≈20% admitted to praying daily, the faculty was less religious (Religiosity Index faculty = 0.5 and students = 0.75) and, as expected, more knowledgeable about science (Science Index faculty = 2.27 and students = 1.60) and evolution (Evolution Index faculty = 2.48 and students = 1.65) than the students. Because attitudes toward evolution correlate (1) positively with understanding of science/evolution and (2) negatively with religiosity/political ideology, we conclude that science education combined with vigorous public debate should suffice to increase acceptance of naturalistic rationalism and decrease the negative impact of creationism and ID on society’s evolution literacy

Acceptance of Evolution Increases with Student Academic Level: A Comparison Between a Secular and a Religious College

Acceptance of evolution among the general public, high schools, teachers, and scientists has been documented in the USA; little is known about college students’ views on evolution; this population is relevant since it transits from a high-school/parent-protective environment to an independent role in societal decisions. Here we compare perspectives about evolution, creationism, and intelligent design (ID) between a secular (S) and a religious (R) college in the Northeastern USA. Interinstitutional comparisons showed that 64% (mean S + R) biology majors vs. 42/62% (S/R) nonmajors supported the exclusive teaching of evolution in science classes; 24/29% (S/R) biology majors vs. 26/38% (S/R) nonmajors perceived ID as both alternative to evolution and/or scientific theory about the origin of life; 76% (mean S + R) biology majors and nonmajors accepted evolutionary explanations about the origin of life; 86% (mean S + R) biology majors vs. 79% (mean S + R) nonmajors preferred science courses where human evolution is discussed; 76% (mean S+R) biology majors vs. 79% (mean S + R) nonmajors welcomed questions about evolution in exams and/or thought that such questions should always be in exams; and 66% (mean S + R) biology majors vs. 46% (mean S + R) nonmajors admitted they accept evolution openly and/or privately. Intrainstitutional comparisons showed that overall acceptance of evolution among biologists (S or R) increased gradually from the freshman to the senior year, due to exposure to upper-division courses with evolutionary content. College curricular/pedagogical reform should fortify evolution literacy at all education levels, particularly among nonbiologists

Testing for Equilibrium Multiplicity in Dynamic Markov Games

This paper proposes several statistical tests for finite state Markov games to examine the null hypothesis that the data are generated from a single equilibrium. We formulate tests of (i) the conditional choice probabilities, (ii) the steady-state distribution of states and (iii) the conditional distribution of states conditional on an initial state. In a Monte Carlo study we find that the chi-squared test of the steady-state distribution performs well and has high power even with a small number of markets and time periods. We apply the chi-squared test to the empirical application of Ryan (2012) that analyzes dynamics of the U.S. Portland Cement industry and test if his assumption of single equilibrium is supported by the data